Privates :) und Spiel » along with trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A month ago, Rays starter Jake Odorizzi was the epitome of frustration, leading the majors in no-decisions with only three wins in 19 starts. He was mentioned as a trade target at the deadline, but stayed as Tampa Bay dealt Matt Moore to the Giants instead.Since the All-Star break, hes been one of the best pitchers in the American League -- 4-0 with a 1.66 ERA that is an American League-best for a pitcher with 25 or more innings. Hes struck out 33 batters while walking seven, part of a resurgent starting rotation thats helped the Rays play .500 baseball since the break.And as much as facing the team with the ALs best record would seem to slow that down, Odorizzi (7-5, 3.72 this season) has fared well against the Rangers prior to Fridays meeting. In three career starts, hes 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA, and that drops to 0.71 in two appearances at Tropicana Field.The Rays hope to regain some momentum after seeing a four-game win streak end with Fridays 6-2 loss.Pretty disappointing game to say the least, Rays manager Kevin Cash said after Fridays game. We got outpitched, outhit, outdefended. They didnt make any mental mistakes; we made a handful. So a pretty disappointing effort.Heading in the opposite direction from Odorizzi is Rangers starter A.J. Griffin, who comes in 5-2 with 4.68 ERA, but has seen his effectiveness drop consistently as the season progresses.Griffin had four quality starts in his first five appearances, but none in his last 11. The same pitcher who had a 2.93 ERA at the end of June had a 5.84 ERA in July and has a 7.41 ERA in August.A big part of that struggle has been a consistent inability to avoid the home-run ball -- he gave up just two home runs in his first six starts, but has allowed at least one in 10 straight starts, including seven in his last three outings. His last start saw him give up 11 hits -- including three home runs -- for six runs in a 7-0 loss to the Tigers.The Rangers havent had many weaknesses, but starting off road trips poorly has been one of them. Coming out of the All-Star break, they dropped six of their first seven on the road, and opened their next road trip losing three of four. So to open a five-game road swing with an emphatic victory Friday night was encouraging for manager Jeff Banister.I feel good about how theyre playing in general, but obviously we need to continue to play well on the road, Banister said after their fifth straight road victory. We get an opportunity (next week) to go home and play where we like to play, but we need to play better on the road. Custom Detroit Tigers Jerseys . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Cheap Tigers Jerseys . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. https://www.cheaptigers.com/ . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. Stitched Tigers Jerseys . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. Tigers Jerseys China . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season.NEW YORK -- Once again, the "Test of the Champion" proved otherwise. A day after Palace Malice pulled off an upset in the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, the race for a championship is wide open now that each of the classics has been won by a different 3-year-old. "Everyone goes into the rest of the summer and fall with similar resumes," trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday morning, declaring that his Belmont winner is "feeling very good. "I dont think theres a clear-cut leader." In a Belmont featuring a rematch between Kentucky Derby winner Orb and Preakness winner Oxbow, it was one of Pletchers record five entries that handled the 1 1/2-mile marathon the best. The son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin took the lead from Oxbow on the far turn and barrelled down the stretch for a 3 1/4-length victory Saturday. Orb made a run at the leaders from way back in the field of 14, but didnt come close and finished third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Oxbow. "To try to make up that much ground is almost impossible because its so tiring," Orbs trainer Shug McGaughey said. "Those horses shook loose and we couldnt catch them." The Belmont has been a heartbreaker for decades. This one prevented Orb or Oxbow from rising to the top of the 3-year-old class. Other Belmonts, though, have done in 11 horses who tried and failed to become a Triple Crown champion, leaving the sport without one for 35 years. Orb was feeling the effects of the Triple Crown grind of three races in five weeks at different tracks and different distances. "I went down and looked at him a little later (after the race), and he was kind of hanging his head," he said. "He was tired. Hell get a good month of rehab time and see where it takes us." Orb, Oxbow and Will Take Charge, who was 10th in the Belmont, ran in all three Triple Crown races. They will get their time off. Palace Malice, meanwhile, was full of energy and Pletcher said his colt would be back on the track in four days to resume training. Having a well-rested horse for the Belmont seems to have its benefits. Since 2000, there have been seven Belmont winners who ran in the Derby but skipped the Preakness. And, all four of the Triple Crown tries during that time were spoiled by horses who did not run in the Preakness. "Its not coincidental at all," said Pletcher, who also won the 2007 Belmont with Rags to Riches. "If you want to win the Belmont, it makes a lot of sense to sit out the middle one. Thhe fresh horse is always going to have an edge, in my opinion.dddddddddddd" Which is exactly the way Pletcher played it this year. He sent out a record-tying five horses in the Derby, and his best finisher was third-place Revolutionary. Palace Malice ran 12th. He sat out the Preakness, and came back with a record five horses for the Belmont. Fortunately, one of them was Palace Malice, who finally came through with the big race Pletcher thought he was capable of producing. "If you look back at his races, he ran well in the allowance (to start the year). He almost got there in the Risen Star. The Louisiana Derby was a nightmare trip, and he came really close to winning the Blue Grass," Pletcher said of the colt he trains for Cot Campbells Dogwood Stable. "His Derby race wasnt that bad, he just went too fast. He was still right there at the eighth pole, so when he came back and trained like he did, there was never any consideration about not trying the Belmont." For now, the leading 3-year-old looks to be Orb, who won five in a row -- including the Fountain of Youth, Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby -- before finishing fourth in the Preakness and third in the Derby. Oxbow has two other wins to go with his Preakness, along with a sixth in the Derby and a second in the Belmont. Oxbow came out of the race in good shape, and was already on his way back to Kentucky, along with trainer D. Wayne Lukas. "Everyone was tickled with his performance," Lukas assistant Leigh Bentley. "He ran super and seemed to come back great. Everyone was quite pleased." A few more wins by Palace Malice, or soon to be returning 3-year-old Verrazano (also trained by Pletcher) could put them in the mix as well. "He is a remarkable horse," Pletcher said of Palace Malice. "He bounces out of his races really well. It was a tough race, a demanding race, and he surprises me how resilient he is." So let the summer season begin. The highlight is the Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 24, the next time the classic winners might meet again. And before that theres the Jim Dandy at the Spa on July 27 and the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 28. Asked if hell have five more horses for the Travers, Pletcher smiled. "Well see how it shakes out," he said. Unlimited Budget, the filly who finished sixth under Rosie Napravnik, came out of the race in good shape. Pletcher said her next start would be back against fillies in the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 20. ' ' '